Photo: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit , Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center · Public domainRadon is Dauphin’s main hazard: 43% of tested homes in its area top Health Canada’s guideline
Burn scars are few around Dauphin, with 0.5% of the land within 25 km touched by fire since 1986 (0.02% a year). Earthquakes matter little: NRCan’s model puts building losses at $0.005 a year per $1,000 of value, against $0.030 for the typical town. Dauphin grades B− for hazard risk, with wildfire counted against it.
What stands out about Dauphin’s hazards
Four national sources, each read for Dauphin: earthquakes, radon, past fires and flood studies.
What Dauphin faces
Each hazard against its own yardstick; meters run from low to high on that yardstick.
Wildfire
Earthquakes
Radon
Flood study
Dauphin grades B− for hazard risk
Seismic risk and radon set Dauphin’s grade, wildfire can drag it down, and flood mapping stays out of it.
How sure: The seismic figure is a long-run average from NRCan’s model, not a prediction. Small fires and grass fires are largely missing from the national burned-area record.
Wildfire is rare near Dauphin: 0.5% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986, 0% within 5 km
Fires mapped since 1986 around where Dauphin’s residents live, and the fuel next to their homes.
Low by Canadian standards: 0.02% of the land a year around Dauphin, 0.000% for the typical Canadian town.
The forest starts beyond town: 0% of the land within 5 km of Dauphin’s homes is forest fuel, against 6.7% within 25 km.
Shares of land within 5 and 25 km of populated blocks: burned at least once in 1986–2025 (CWFIS burned-area composite), forest fuel and grass (fire behaviour fuel types, 2026, 250 m grid).
Burn rate a year, towns in Manitoba · highest of 190
Flin Flon (Part) burns fastest in Manitoba at 1.68% a year; Dauphin, at 0.02%, ranks 25th of 190.
Each bar: the yearly average share of land within 25 km of a town’s homes that burned, 1986–2025 (CWFIS); the seven highest towns of 2,500 people or more.
Dauphin is in the low band with 92% of Canada’s 2,610 towns; 7.5% sit in moderate or higher.
Bands of the yearly burn rate: low under 0.05%, moderate under 0.25%, high under 1%, very high 1% or more; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Canadian Wildland Fire Information System: National Burned Area Composite 1986–2025 and fire behaviour fuel types (2026), Natural Resources Canada. Measured within 25 km and 5 km of each populated dissemination area; past fire, not a forecast.
The flood map inventory lists nothing for Dauphin
Flood studies whose area touches Dauphin, from NRCan’s inventory, each linked to its owner.
NRCan’s inventory is silent on Dauphin, so any flood map would be the municipality’s own.
Towns with a flood study on file
Flood maps are thinner in Manitoba, 18% of towns against 58% nationally, and Dauphin has none.
NRCan Canada Flood Map Inventory: a study footprint touching the town’s boundary; towns of 2,500 people or more.
Flood is shown here, never graded: a study says where a map exists, not how many of Dauphin’s homes stand in a flood zone.
The inventory’s own caution (NRCan): “The Canada Flood Map (CFM) does not include every flood hazard map in Canada and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. It should not be relied upon as the official source of flood mapping information. Furthermore, if a map appears to be missing, this does not necessarily mean that the area has never been mapped. For the official version of a map, updated information, or confirmation of applicable regulations, please contact the local authority responsible for flood mapping.”
Earthquakes cost buildings in Dauphin just $0.005 per $1,000 a year
NRCan’s seismic risk model: the damage shaking is expected to do to buildings each year, on average over many years.
At $0.005 per $1,000, Dauphin carries 0.2 times the typical Canadian town’s earthquake risk ($0.030): low.
Shaking damage a year per $1,000 of building value
Shaking damage around Dauphin runs at $0.005 a year, near the $0.006 of the typical town in Manitoba; Virden has $0.007.
NRCan seismic risk model (2022): mean yearly building loss per $1,000 of value; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Nearly every one of Canada’s 2,611 towns (96%) expects more shaking damage than Dauphin.
Each column: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more in that range of yearly loss per $1,000 (NRCan, 2022).
The loss is to Dauphin’s buildings alone, from ground shaking; infrastructure and secondary hazards are left out.
Natural Resources Canada, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model (2022), by census subdivision (2016 boundaries; a few 2021 subdivisions take their residents’ mean).
Test for radon in Dauphin: 43% of area homes were over the guideline
Health Canada’s survey of long-term home tests: the share above the 200 Bq/m³ guideline. · The radon tests numbers here cover the Parkland health region
the typical Canadian town has 6.6% over the guideline; Dauphin’s area has 43%.
Tested homes over 200 Bq/m³
Over 600 Bq/m³
Dauphin’s area, at 43%, is above the median in Manitoba (12%), and 12% of its tests passed 600 Bq/m³.
Health Canada radon survey (2009–2011), by 2007 health region; medians of towns of 2,500 people or more.
Dauphin is in the top band, 30% or more, with just 1.5% of Canada’s towns.
Each bar: the share of Canada’s towns of 2,500 people or more whose survey area had that share of tests over 200 Bq/m³.
The share describes the area, not a house: in Dauphin as anywhere, test to be sure.
Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes (2009–2011).
Weather and fire alerts for Dauphin
Environment and Climate Change Canada issues the weather alerts for Dauphin; Alert Ready carries the urgent ones to phones, radio and TV.
| Alert | What it means |
|---|---|
| Warning | Severe weather is happening or about to: act now. |
| Watch | Conditions favour severe weather: be ready. |
| Advisory | Weather that is less severe but could disrupt the day. |
| Special weather statement | Unusual weather worth knowing about. |
| Special air quality statement | Poor air, often wildfire smoke. |
In fire season, check CWFIS for danger and active fires around Dauphin, and listen to local authorities for orders.
Weather alerts (ECCC) · Alert Ready · Fire danger and active fires (CWFIS)
Hazards in the places around Dauphin
The same four hazards for the places next door.
| Town | Wildfire | Quake $/1,000 | Radon | Flood study |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dauphin | Low | $0.005 | 43% | None listed |
| Dauphin 8,587 · 7.0 km | Low | $0.005 | 43% | None listed |
Dauphin (low) has the heaviest fire record of Dauphin’s neighbours, and Dauphin (low) matches or beats it.
Radon is the survey area’s figure, so neighbours in one area share it.
Get ready for what Dauphin faces
Practical steps for Dauphin’s hazards, most pressing first.
- Test for three months in winter.
- Over 200 Bq/m³: fix it.
- Kits are cheap; pros test too.
- Never drive through floodwater.
- Move papers and medicines upstairs.
- Ask whether your street is mapped.
- Clear needles and wood nearby.
- Keep a grab-and-go bag ready.
- In smoke, stay in; filter air.
- Has it had a radon test?
- Ask the municipality for flood maps.
- Are flood and wildfire insured?
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Flood studies aren’t flood zones. A study’s area can be a whole watershed or province, so being on the inventory says a map exists, not that a home in Dauphin floods.
- Wildfire counts one way. Wildfire is read from the national burned-area record around Dauphin’s homes since 1986, a history of fire that may lower Risk but never raises it.
- Radon is a survey. The radon share comes from about 14,000 long-term home tests in 2009–2011, pooled for now by the 2007 health region Dauphin sits in.
- Earthquakes are modelled. NRCan models what earthquakes would cost buildings each year on average, subdivision by subdivision; Dauphin’s figure is its subdivision’s.
Questions about flooding and hazards in Dauphin
How big is the earthquake risk in Dauphin?
Expected earthquake damage in Dauphin comes to $0.005 a year for each $1,000 that buildings are worth.
Is radon a problem in Dauphin?
43% of the 122 homes Health Canada tested around Dauphin topped the guideline; your own house needs its own test.
Is Dauphin at risk of wildfire?
Not much by Canadian standards: Dauphin’s band is low, with 0.5% of the land within 25 km burned since 1986 (last in 2024), so wildfire doesn’t change its grade.
How is Dauphin’s Hazard risk Grade worked out?
Hazard risk gives Dauphin B−, weighing earthquakes and radon and counting wildfire only against it.
Does Dauphin flood?
No study on Canada’s Flood Map Inventory covers Dauphin (0), which doesn’t mean it has never been mapped, so ask the municipality.
Seismic risk: Natural Resources Canada. Radon: Health Canada. Wildfire: Canadian Wildland Fire Information System. Flood studies: Natural Resources Canada, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.
Sources: NRCan, Canada’s Seismic Risk Model 2022 · Health Canada, Cross-Canada Survey of Radon Concentrations in Homes · CWFIS, National Burned Area Composite and FBP fuel types · NRCan, Canada Flood Map Inventory. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).